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Mansa fire, 21 August 2017 Mansa, Lupososhi, Chipili

Out · last detection 24 Sept 2017, 23:42 UTC

The fire started on 21 August 2017 in Mansa, Zambia, and satellites saw it burning for 34 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 258,414 hectares from heat detections, spread across 5 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

It is the 5th largest in Luapula since 2016 (of 533 with a page). The largest in Zambia in 2017, of 230.

Burnt area
258,414ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
34days
21 Aug 2017 – 23 Sept 2017
Municipalities hit
5
districts
Started on
21 Aug
2017
Heat detections
11,237
in a single hotspot: 208 MW
Danger at start
42
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
142.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

24 Sept 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Aug23 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

2122232425262728293031123456789101112131415161718192021222324

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

33°high
54km/h · peak gust
16%lowest humidity

It had gone more than two months without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

66% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 173,089 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Mansa where it started
    167,816 ha reached on 15 Aug
    22 %
  2. Lupososhi
    57,711 ha reached on 23 Aug
    14 %
  3. Chipili
    26,027 ha reached on 21 Aug
    6.1 %
  4. Chifunabuli
    7,949 ha reached on 24 Aug
    2.6 %
  5. Mwense
    550 ha reached on 15 Aug
    0.2 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
21 Aug 26.1 °C 35 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
22 Aug 27.5 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
23 Aug 30.2 °C 24 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
24 Aug 31.0 °C 17 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
25 Aug 30.8 °C 18 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
26 Aug 29.6 °C 19 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
27 Aug 29.2 °C 25 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
28 Aug 28.2 °C 20 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
29 Aug 26.5 °C 26 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
30 Aug 29.1 °C 24 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
31 Aug 30.4 °C 18 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
1 Sept 30.1 °C 16 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
2 Sept 29.1 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
3 Sept 28.8 °C 23 % 54 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
4 Sept 28.3 °C 29 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
5 Sept 28.9 °C 29 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Sept 30.0 °C 28 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
7 Sept 30.0 °C 23 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Sept 29.7 °C 24 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
9 Sept 30.1 °C 24 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
10 Sept 30.3 °C 25 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
11 Sept 30.5 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
12 Sept 30.5 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 47
13 Sept 30.4 °C 21 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
14 Sept 30.8 °C 20 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
15 Sept 31.3 °C 18 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
16 Sept 31.4 °C 18 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
17 Sept 32.6 °C 19 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
18 Sept 32.8 °C 17 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
19 Sept 32.1 °C 20 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
20 Sept 31.4 °C 27 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
21 Sept 31.5 °C 20 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Sept 31.1 °C 20 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
23 Sept 31.2 °C 21 % 51 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Sept after 31.1 °C 21 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
25 Sept after 31.9 °C 21 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
26 Sept after 32.4 °C 23 % 32 km/h 0.1 mm Very high 44
27 Sept after 32.0 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.2 mm Very high 41
28 Sept after 32.4 °C 21 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
29 Sept after 32.0 °C 20 % 55 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
30 Sept after 30.2 °C 28 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
1 Oct after 31.0 °C 26 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Oct after 31.3 °C 26 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
3 Oct after 32.9 °C 22 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 14 Aug 2017
After · 30 Sept 2017

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 11,237Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Zambia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Mansa fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 21 August 2017 and 23 September 2017: 34 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 258,414 hectares (2,584.1 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 5 municipalities: Mansa (167,816 ha, 22 %); Lupososhi (57,711 ha, 14 %); Chipili (26,027 ha, 6.1 %); Chifunabuli (7,949 ha, 2.6 %); Mwense (550 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 32.8 °C, humidity dropped to 16 % and gusts hit 54 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 54, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Zambia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Satellite cross-check

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

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Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.